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Posted on
December 02, 2016 by ADMIN

Arsenal can’t score if they don’t shoot!

Arsenal were thoroughly embarrassed at home on Wednesday when Southampton unceremoniously dumped us out of the League Cup again. Arsene Wenger made many changes to the starting line-up, but there were many more experienced players on the field than we usually get in the EFL and there were little excuses to be made for our 2-0 defeat.

One of those experienced players, Gabriel Paulista, was asked what his opinion of the game was, and he replied: “It’s hard to say, it was a good opportunity for players that usually don’t get to play a lot, so we have to take this competition with the importance it deserves.

“Unfortunately things didn’t go well, we conceded two goals and we only have ourselves to blame. We have to correct these kind of mistakes and avoid them in the future.”

Arsenal were clearly better in the second half, but why does he think we couldn’t get back in the game? “We had ball possession but we no clear chance on goal. I think we can only score if we shoot, and I think that’s where we have to improve. If we try to shoot more the results will come.”

We actually had 5 shots on target on Wednesday, which is embarrassing, but not as bad as the 3 we had against Bournemouth, but luckily all three of them ended up in the net. Against Man United we had just the one shot on target, and again, luckily it went in (Thankyou Giroud!), and we only had 2 shots on target against Tottenham, with one goal out of them.

Between all those games we have had our top strikers rotating but our goals and shots on target have gone right down since our blistering start to the season. Can anyone say why that is? Surely it can’t be just because Cazorla is out injured?

I think it’s more a case of getting into positions and actually having the opportunity to shoot which is lacking against certain teams. The author mentioned our one shot against United. I watched the United West Ham game and the only reason why they beat West Ham was not because they played brilliant football, it is because of how they pressurized the opponent into making mistakes in their own half and capitalized on those chances. United’s possession of the ball was messy, but if they lost possession they quickly had a player or two pressurizing the opponent. This is exactly how they played against us and it worked.

Arsenal need to be more like this off the ball, we have too many forwards who just don’t chase enough and pressurize defenders. It’s also tactics from our manager that need to be addressed but I think we have the pace at the back to be able to play high up the pitch at times and pressurize when needed. A player like Sanchez is a good example, always on the prowl and his first goal against Bournemouth started from him pressurizing defenders.

But our players are so weak they can’t keep up the whole match. Sometime I wonder are our players too comfy at arsenal? They just show up when contract talk after they just relax most of time waiting to collect pays.

Well go and watch them then!
Did you know that Liverpool have also played Spurs and Man United, and also drew with both!
They also drew at Southampton and lost to Burnley.
Why does that make them better than us?

If you are trying to say that at the moment Liverpool play a more exciting and effective brand of football, I would begrudgingly have to agree with you. This admission is hurtful because the one thing that over the years most premier league fans would all agree on is that Arsenal have always aspired to play football in the right way. Sadly this is no more. What you get with Arsenal recently is sideways passes, back to the goal keeper who kicks it long and then more sideways and backwards passing. To which the opposition allow us to have the ball in our two thirds of the pitch and sit ten men behind the ball. Without any incisive play, players become frustrated and the only shots are those done from range. The game is ultimately too comfortable for the opposition.

i thought the most of you favoured and loved simeone? e.g result over attractive football? so why do you have a problem when arsenal achieving two draws and one win with just 5 shots.. isnt that the efficient football the most of the arsenal fans always wished? 😉

I’d say the reason is because some people will always find something to complain about. It’s a good question Krish, and you’d expect to have heard those same people coming out in defence of our results against the people who want beautiful football.

Yes but the big difference between Simeone and Wenger, is that Simeone gets results, Wenger doesn’t! Even when Atletico don’t win a trophy, they’re still extremely competitive, i.e. getting to the Champions League final twice in the last three years, and pushing Real and Barcelona hard in the league. When were Arsenal last competitive in a major competition?